ICT Literacy & Education in Malta

Lawrence Zammit

Director Technology in Education

Summary

A transformation has been happening around us with the ubiquity of ICT, it is natural that this transformation must be reflected in the way we teach and the way we learn. Such a transformation has been taken up by the government in an effort to offer a wide range of online services to the citizens. Schools have gone through a process by which in a relatively short time-span they have been equipped with an ICT infrastructure. The Lisbon Objectives clearly state that education systems must be modernised to make Europe a world leader in the quality of its education and training systems. ICT literacy is often mistaken for the technical skills required to use ICT equipment. This is a very shallow definition since true ICT literacy requires various other skills whereby users are able to function and think in terms of ICT and apply it effectively in different situations.

In primary schools in Malta, ICT is vertically integrated across the curriculum while in the secondary sector it is regarded as a different subject and geared towards a skills-based exam. Since the introduction of ICT into schools, teacher training has been regarded as a very important factor. It has been constantly targeted by several initiatives of the Education Division all of which help teachers become comfortable with the technology thus enabling them to use it effectively in the classroom.

Primary school teachers have also been provided with a laptop computer on a long-term loan basis, this has helped overcome the lack of access to ICT back when home computers were not as common as they are today. They also enjoy the support of a team of specially trained ICT peripatetic teachers whose task is to help them in their classroom use of ICT.

The Education Division has also contributed towards ICT awareness for the general public. This was done through the collaboration with the Ministry of Investment Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) by making the ICT resources in schools available outside school hours.

The future will certainly hold further development in the way ICT is used and more advanced technology such as portable devices and wireless networking will become cheaper and more readily available, these may offer solutions to difficulties that we have faced such as elevated wired network cost. The methodology of our teaching needs to change, computers and the Internet open up several exciting opportunities for educators who are willing to involve themselves. Collaboration between school administrators, teachers, and students in different countries gives a new and meaningful dimension and helps realise the potential and necessity of ICT in education. 

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